November 8, 2014, Dog River Marina

A bit chilly but a beautiful morning. Two of us left at the same time this morning, about 06:00 and we pretty much had the river to ourselves. We had a pretty sun rise but then it really clouded up and it was over cast all the way to Mobile. We made good time because we had a push from the current and got all the way through downtown Mobile by 10:00; averaged 11 knots. We didn't met any tows coming down but once we got into Mobile Shipping Channel we met 1 Tow and 2 Ships; the largest ship was out of Singapore.  Mobile Bay was relatively smooth with the wind out of the north about 3 to 5 mph. When we made the turn to Dog Rivers channel the water got real skinny and we had to go very slow, at times we only had 1' of water below the props, but we made it to the marina by 11:30.

Now we will get ready for our trip to Wisconsin and Minnesota for Thanksgiving and doctor visits. Dog River Marina will pull our boat on Tuesday morning.  As soon as the boat is pulled we will head north by car.

N30.56776
W088.09201

CO's comments.  The slave driver, or should I say the XO, got me up early again today.  A nice cool day for cruising.  We arrived at Dog River early.  It is more of a boat yard than a marina.  It is not the prettiest but very friendly and we feel like we are at home.  Everyone knows Kim Jo IV.

 11-7-204: Good Night! 4 boats in our anchorage, including us.

 11-8-204: Sun rise on Tensas River, Mile 39.3

11-8-204: Mobile Bay, The LPS USS Montgomery ready for christening today.

Friday, November 7, 2014

Anchorage at Tensas River North, Mile 39.3:  We got up too early this morning; 04:30. We were ready to go by 05:15 and it was still too dark. Called the Coffeeville Lock by 05:45 and there was a tow in the lock and he said it would be about an hour. We were 6 miles from the lock and pulled anchor by 06:10. I was driving and Keith brought the anchor up. This system has been working really well for us. We got to the lock by 06:40. The tow was out but we had to wait on the Lock Master to open the doors; we finally got into the lock by 07:05 and we were out by 07:30. There were 4 boats in the lock, 2 MV and 2 SV. Sage was the other MV and he is going to Fort Myers also. We went down 34 feet and this will be our last lock now until we return in the spring. W got to our anchorage by 15:00 and anchored in 9' of water and put 55' feet of chain out. We had a lots of Tows today, a total of 11. It was a beautiful sunny day and it got to 67 degrees. After 2 days on the water it feels like we never left, a good feeling.

CO's comments. Another great day on the water.  I was down below checking the engines when the XO slowed abruptly, I damn near broke my bad hip trying to get up to the bridge.  She just slowed down for a fisherman.  She said, not to worry, if it is an emergency I would hear her verbally besides slowing down.
　

N31.06647
W087.94550

 11-7-204: At 0 dark 30, the moon on it’s was down

 11-7-2014: Sun rise on the Lower Black Warrior River

 11-7-2014:Sage; locked through the Coffeeville Lock with us

11-7-2014:Our anchorage for the night; Tensas River North, Mile 39.3

Hello, long time no post!

It has been a while since we last posted anything to our blog.  We were busy doing stuff on the boat, etc. but really didn't have much to say.  But, now we are back on the water cruising again so I will try to keep the blog up.

Thursday, November 6, 2014:
Started out raining and 64 degrees but the river was very calm. We left our slip by 05:45 and had to wait in the Demopolis Lock for 2 other boats. We were in the lock by 06:23 and out by 06:40. At about Mile 205.0, I was driving and Keith was down in the engine room checking things out. There were 2 Red buoys in the middle of the river so I kept them to my left as we were going down river. It started to get really shallow and I was getting nervous but kept going. When it got to just 2 feet below the props I eased up on the throttles to get Keith’s attention and ended up stopping completely because it was so shallow and then I heard a noise. Keith was up on the bridge by then and took over. I was really flustered. After Keith checked every thing out he thought everything was OK. We did not have a vibration which was good. He thinks a rudder hit something. We will keep our fingers crossed that nothing bad happened. Keith thought that the river was low and maybe the 2 red buoys were out of place or maybe both and that was why we hit something.

By late morning it had cleared up nicely and in the low 70's and it got to a high of 76 by evening. We anchored in Okatuppa Creek Alternative on the left descending bank across from Okatuppa Creek in about 15 feet of water. We called the Lock Master at Coffeeville Lock to let them know we were along side the river so he could alert any tows coming up or down river. Had a nice, quiet evening and in bed early as the alarm was set for 04:30 again. It was good to be back on the water.

　
N31.82597
W088.17101

CO's comments.  It is great to be moving again.  A bit of darkness, a bit of rain, and a bit of sun; a wonderful day to be on the water.

11-6-2014:  Cruising down the Tenn-Tombigbee River

11-6-2014:  Skipper Keith; on the move at last after about 5 month layover.

 

11-6-2014: Anchor Alert on Keith’s IPad; works real good. Apps lets us know if our anchor is dragging.



11-6-2014:  Okatuppa Creek Alternative anchorage; down stream

11-6-2014:  Okatuppa Creek Alternative anchorage; up stream

11-6-2014:  Okatuppa Creek Alternative anchorage; close to LDB